Story of Paper Airplanes
by SevenRenny
Summary: (SoulMate AU) It looked like a normal paper airplane, but they couldn't see the ever-changing colors she was seeing. It was for her eyes only. A Soulmate Clue. Kids used to make a guessing game out of it. Now, being faced with the reality of it, she had no choice but to tackle it head-on. Out there was a special person, just for her.


_Notes: Soulmates, Quirks Exist, No Hero Society, challenge/event to write a short fic using 'Icebreaker' prompt_

_Warnings: Medical Conditions, mentions of bullying, Loneliness, Self-Esteem Issues, Anxiety, Mental Breakdown_

* * *

**Story Of Paper Airplanes**

**SevenRenny**

The foot-high snow didn't scare everyone into hiding indoors just yet. Kids, especially, adored snow days. No school and plenty of winter events and TV Christmas specials kept everyone busy. For Ochaco, she got the chance to enjoy her time with the girls. She was new to the city, but being the social butterfly that she was, friends were made, and they didn't hesitate to drag her along with their shenanigans.

"Okay, okay. My turn," Mina said between laughs, taking off her beige beanie and positioning herself in front of the fluffy railing of the park's fence. Ochaco was already holding back a laugh, expecting it to be just as funny as the first few tries by her and Toru. Momo covered her mouth with her hand. Kyoka was holding her stomach after the second one, claiming it was dumb but still laughed.

Mina pressed her face into the tube of snow that had gathered on the railing, stayed there for a few seconds, resurfaced with a thin layer of snow powdering her face and they all doubled over laughing like idiots. The face print of Mina had a squinting expression on the snow.

"It's so ugly, oh god–" Mina laughed. Misty clouds puffed with every exhale.

It had been Toru to start it. It was interesting to finally see the invisible girl's face, in the snow and on her snow-covered face. It wasn't the best illustration for a face, given how they had instinctively squinted so hard it gave them extra wrinkles.

Changing middle schools had been difficult, but the city had more job opportunities for her mom and dad, and the girls from school made her few first days more comfortable. The snow in the city wasn't as fat as her rural home. Traffic flattened ice into black tire-marks on the road. Traffic lights looked like they had white hats on. People hovered umbrellas over their heads and crushed the cold carpet with bootprints. They didn't give the snow a chance to grow higher.

She pulled the floppy ears of her beanie down to firmly hug her head. Her nose and cheeks had chilled the second she'd stepped outside. The sky was on the cloudy side, so, no sun. Aside from the flashing billboards, not much caught one's eye; so when a reflective glint stabbed the corner of her vision, it had her attention.

Gliding across the sky, past streetlamps, it flew with the grace of a sparrow and the shimmer of a broken mirror or the underside of a CD. Aluminum foil? No, it pierced a mound in the snow and stuck there.

"Ochaco, where you going?" Toru asked, which probably attracted everyone else's attention.

"Just need to check something," Ochaco yelled back, now trotting over to where the item stood.

A paper airplane with its nose down, planted into the ground. Pencil lines mapped its body. She picked it up with her gloved hands. Regular notebook paper, judging from the horizontal lines. The wet stomping of multiple boots stopped behind her.

"An airplane, Kero," Tsuyu said.

Ignoring the girls, she gently unraveled the paper, ice flacking off as it changed shape. It was a doodle of the comic book character, All Might, with notes on the side, and an unrecognizable character illustrated on the back. She had a copy of the first few volumes of the series herself for her birthdays. Heck, she had her own Thirteen keychain clipped to her key ring. A quick look around. No one seemed to be looking for a lost page. A normal piece of paper, but…

"Hey, guys?" Ochaco called, feeling her stomach do a flip. "Is it… Is it holographic?"

She didn't need to move it to see the constant colorful lines zipping over the wrinkly paper like shooting stars. She heard a few of the girls gasp and knew what their answer would be.

"It's not, kero," Tsuyu put it bluntly.

Mina grabbed her by the shoulder and squeezed, knowing full well what it all meant. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh – you see it? You're seeing it, right?"

They couldn't see the ever-changing colors she was seeing. It was for her and her only. She'd heard of Kyoka's experience with the Shimmer from Mina. Kyoka had lost a guitar pick at a music festival, and stumbled upon a years-old, Shimmering Walkman. Kyoka said it wasn't a big deal, but according to Mina, she had been a stressed-out mess after putting two and two together, realizing someone out there was looking for her if they'd made a find of their own. Eventually, she (literally) bumped into the idiot known as either Denki Kaminari, Jamming Yay, or Pikachu. His name changed according to Kyoka's mood. His first ever words to her had been: "Hey, I found your thingy!" and presented the guitar pick he'd managed to spot past lazars and flashing stage lights on the ground.

The thought of Ochaco being next had never crossed her mind. Not recently, anyway. It happened to many people, and the timeframe it took to find the person ranged from a few seconds to years. It was talked about a lot in films, especially in romances. Kids used to make a guessing game out of it. It had been a simple game to play with friends at the time. Now, being faced with the reality of it, she had no choice but to tackle it head-on.

A special person, just for her.

She was a special person to someone waiting out there.

It was surreal. All of a sudden. Out of the sky, really.

Mina shook her by the shoulders, excited. "You have to start looking! Did ya' see which way it came from?"

"I don't think it will be easy finding them," Momo admitted.

"Yeah, it probably flew a lot to get here," Kyoka said.

"You don't know that!" Toru didn't want to believe it would be that hard of a task. "We won't know until we look!"

Ochaco crinkled the paper in her hand, examining every detail with care. They had an artistic hand, from the look of it. The written notes were of character facts. They managed to draw well but have childish handwriting.

The reality sunk in, and she began to panic.

Her someone was out there.

And she was standing around like a snowman.

Her eyes began darting around. "It was really high. I think it was thrown out a window?" she hypothesized, recalling her first glance at the airplane when it was still in midair.

"Should we split up? You know, ask around?" Mina suggested quickly.

The search didn't have to be just on her part. The other person had to have some sort of lead. A Clue. "Oh, wait–" Ochaco took off her beanie and looked around for a place that would keep it from getting buried in snow.

The girls caught onto what she was doing.

"You're gonna leave your things around?" Kyoka asked, just to be sure.

"It's worth a try!" Ochaco said. She wouldn't know which one of her beloved items would be the Clue. Something she held dear to her, which was a long list already. Being not financially comfortable, most things she bought were things she truly needed and used often. She rarely spent her hard-earned cash obtained from working at store, unloading boxes and stacking shelves.

Leaving the park, she hung her beanie on a tree branch just by the street, tied her scarf around a streetlamp, and even gave Momo and Mina her gloves for when they needed to split up into groups of twos (Tsuyu accompanied her. Kyoka had gone with Momo; and Toru had partnered with Mina), all the while keeping a lookout for someone who'd look like they'd be interested in comic books, which wasn't much of a Clue to go by. Momo had offered to make her new gloves, but Ochaco declined, not wanting Momo to expose skin in the cold. She kept the wrinkly paper in her naked hands and made sure to ask around for anyone who'd recognize it, being met with sympathetic denials.

Until she and Tsuyu went into a comic book/action figure store. They probably should've started in such a place, first.

"Oh, hey, where'd you get that?" the young employee asked, interested in the paper she showed him. The name tag on the right of his shirt read: 'Mirio Togata'

Slight recognition. Hope bubbled within her. "Did you make it?" she asked with sudden excitement.

"Oh, no – not me," he laughed, flattered someone mistook him for an artist. "This kid showed it to me a few days ago when I asked what he was doing, standing and writing for hours. Think this was in his notebook. Said he wanted to make a comic someday."

"Do you know where he could be, kero?" Tsuyu asked.

Mirio rubbed the nape of his neck, thinking. "Can't say," he admitted with a hiss. "Midoriya visits every few weeks so maybe you'll catch him then? Fella sticks around like he works here."

She had a name and (possibly) a favorite spot of his. "Thank you! That's helpful," Ochaco said gratefully.

"Sure, it's no problem. You need me to tell him you looked for him when he gets here next time or do ya' just want me to hand that back to him?" Mirio offered, pointing at the paper in her hands.

She instinctively pressed the paper to her chest, not wanting to let it go just yet. "It's… It's not that… I think he's my…" My what? SoulMate? The word itself sent Goosebumps up her skin. It was her turn. It was really her turn, of all people.

Mitio looked like he just solved a mental jigsaw. "Ooooh! You two are – I get it, I get it," he said. "Tell you what, if you want to find him, keep an eye out for his dog! Goes everywhere with him."

…

Toshi had one job and one job only: keep the boy alive.

He was trained specifically for this – even had the vest to prove it! He carried everything in the pockets, from water bottles and tablets, to a phone and a thin, rolled-up blanket. His boy didn't have stable heart and Toshi needed to alert him a few times a day, asking him to stop whatever he was doing and sit down, or just to remind him to take his medication.

He loved his job, no matter how stressful it got sometimes. Not every Golden Retriever got to be a Medical Alert Dog. It was an honor only awarded to a selected, professionally trained few.

But as Toshi sat on one of the steps of the spiral stairs and watched his boy rip his artistic creation with tears on his cheeks, Toshi wanted to break protocol and just be Izuku's best friend. He didn't understand why his boy climbed the park's castle-themed tower just to sit by the glassless window on the third floor that leaked in winter cold and wait there for at least an hour and thirty minutes. The stairs were taxing on his fragile body, so it took the boy a while to reach the second floor, often needing to rest on the steps.

But then, there were things Toshi did understand that made the journey up the short tower make sense. The boy would need to be alerted more often when surrounded by people. Toshi would smell his stress go up, which triggered everything else, from the boy's breathing to his blood pressure, often making him dizzy. The park's abandoned brick tower was forgotten by the public. Sometimes, there were empty beer cans and cigarette butts on the steps, but hardly any people, there was one group on the second floor one time and his boy had retreated upon hearing voices up there.

It was a place so his boy wouldn't need to hold his breath around people. It was usually people who made him cry. There were no people now, so why was he crying? He'd been down all day, then went up the tower slower than usual, sat down on the steps, and flipped through his notebook before getting frustrated and tearing off a page. He Ignored Toshi pawing at his knee, warning him to be ready. The boy hugged his knees and cried. He cried until his chest began to bother him and he finally gave into Toshi's demands for a long cuddle. Panting. Shivering. Sometimes whimpering. He'd unconsciously brush Toshi's fur at the end with an uncoordinated hand and stomp his foot to shake off the tingling feeling in his hands and feet. The sound of his shoe clapping the steps echoed in the tower. Toshi made sure his boy wouldn't stand until he was sure it was gone for the time being.

Maybe that was another reason why his boy preferred being lonely. There was no one to stop and stare and point. Toshi accompanied him everywhere because he was needed. The hospital (which had become a second home), Izuku's school (where bad kids barked at Toshi), a cheap restaurant (where employees knew them but customers didn't and really wanted to pet Toshi despite the DO NOT PET sign stitched to the side of his vest), and recently: the market, where someone complained about a dog being in the building, not believing Toshi was needed because, as some liked to point out, Izuku was not blind.

Izuku needed him for his life, not his eyes. Izuku kept the alarm key by his bedside at night and had tied a line for Toshi to pull for when the dog sensed any abnormalities. It would alert Izuku's mom in the next room and the woman would hurry over to check over her son, and in rare cases, needed to phone his doctor just to be safe.

His boy, Izuku, liked to read and draw and watch pictures on the screen. Toshi would've liked for him to continue doing all those things that made him happy. However; his boy had been withdrawn the past few days. Not going out much. Not drawing. Now, he tore his work – the work that made him happy.

Izuku came to his senses after the long cuddle.

"Sorry. Thanks," he whispered and gave the dog a half-hearted smile.

"What's eating you, my boy?" Toshi would've asked if he could.

"Just tired lately," Izuku said as if he'd read the dog's thoughts. He gave the dog an apologetic pat on the head for causing the dog trouble. He looked down at the ripped page and sighed, disappointed with himself. Sighing, he bit his gloves off and placed them to the side. He slapped the page on the ground (which happened to be the step he was sitting on) and began folding it. Giving it one last mournful look – he sent his dreams to fly out the window.

…

Mirio had given them a description to go by so she didn't have to continue to search blindly. Curly, dark green hair. Freckles. Pale skin. Almost her height. A golden dog with a vest. It was specific enough; yet, he was still hard to find amongst the crowd of Christmas-happy people roaming the afternoon in colorful sweaters. She'd given Mirio her contact number to deliver to her soulmate named Midoriya in case he came back to the store.

She met up with the girls just outside the park after a group text to call off the search.

"Are you sure about this?" Momo asked with genuine concern.

"You know you're gonna need to wait, right?" Kyoka reminded her. Waiting was stressful as the Shimmer triggered the need to look for the other half. She couldn't imagine Ochaco waiting it out. Kyoka's half-day search had been painstaking and had almost driven her into a panicked state.

"I know…" Ochaco admitted with disappointment. How would she sleep at night like this? There was a possibility she'd walked right past him without realizing. If only she'd been paying attention. "I know, I just… gosh, I don't know what to do," she whined. The Clue had gotten soggy from the melting snow. Best preserve it as best as she could. Folding it gently with numb fingers, she stuffed it into her pocket–

–and felt the jab of her apartment key. She stilled, the tips of her cold fingers feeling the equally cold keys, then the keychain she'd received as a birthday gift. Pulling the ring out, she focused on the miniature Thirteen figure.

The girls realized what she was planning.

"Are you sure, kero?" Tsuyu asked.

"Yeah, you could really lose it," Kyoka said.

"But, guys, it might actually work!" Mina said. "She loves that thing. It could be it!"

Lose it or not. A try would be worth it. What if it was it and she selfishly decided not to depart with it? She couldn't withhold a Clue from Midoriya when he actually sent his own beloved creation flying. She began unlatching the figure from the ring. "It's okay," she told them. "I wanna try it."

"Ooh! Where are ya gonna put it?" Mina asked, interested.

"I don't know..." He'd sent his flying, so… "Maybe somewhere high?"

"How high we talking?"

She thought it over, her eyes searching up, passing decorated buildings, briefly going over what looked like the top of giant Christmas tree in the more crowded part of the city, where tall malls surrounded the blinking masterpiece. Her eyes went back to it. "I got it!" She began running before even explaining to her friends what idea she actually had.

The tower at the end of the park remained in the background.

…

Izuku liked hope, even if it was fake. It made things okay for the time being. He was Quirkless (or useless, even though most Quirks were useless, unless they were used in the medical field or police force), and it was okay if he didn't tell. Kids were mean, but not as mean now, so it was okay. He got really sick thanks to an infection and missed important school days, but it was okay because his school took pity and let him make up for the time he lost. His heart valve had permanent damage but it was okay because the doctor said he could fix it with open heart surgery so his blood wouldn't continue to leak back in. His art was crappy, but he could get better with practice, so it was okay. The kids were mean, until he got sicker. They weren't so mean anymore. Not physically, which was good.

It was okay, until it suddenly wasn't.

Nothing was good enough. He wasn't special in any way. Why would he ever be good enough? It was bad enough he kept making Toshi work so hard.

The dog's slight whine snapped him out of his thought. He pushed his thick sleeve back to check his watch. Better start heading home. Gloves back on, notebook stored away, and backpack carried, he willed himself to get through the rest of the afternoon.

"Sorry I made you stay out with me. You must be cold," he said to the dog as he slowly got up with one hand brushing the brick wall for stability. Toshi circled to grab the end of the short leash with his mouth and nudged Izuku's free hand with his cold snout. Izuku gratefully took it and began going down the stairs, keeping his hand against the curved wall for security. The skin around his fingernails, the back of his thighs, and often, the sides of his arms, had pink rashes that would later relocate somewhere else.

Toshi walked over the snow like a deer, lifting his feet high to take long steps near Izuku's side. Music from somewhere up ahead drifted out and into the open. Izuku adjusted his scarf to block the cold from scratching his neck. Toshi's nose suddenly went up and his steps slowed down. He stopped for a full minute. To most, it might've looked like an ordinary dog behavior, but to Izuku, this was strange. Toshi only stopped focusing when he wanted to tell him something important.

"What is it, Toshi?" Izuku placed a hand on the dog's side.

Lines of mist puffed out of each nostril as Toshi turned his head to catch where the smell was coming from. Izuku decided to move with him.

"It's okay, you can show me if you want," Izuku said, taking steps over the foot-high snow to follow where the dog's nose was pointing and, for once, letting his dog lead. There were freshly made holes and lines in the snow, like someone had dragged their feet across. People had visited recently. Toshi's nose went over one pair of bootprints, zeroing in on that smell that, for some reason, caught his attention. The dog lifted his head to look up questioningly at Izuku with snow sprinkled over his doggy nose.

Toshi never made decisions like this. It had to be important. Animals detected things humans couldn't, and Toshi had found something and was asking him if he could keep going.

"Okay," Izuku said, feeling exhausted but unable to say no to the dog that kept him alive. "Okay. We can look." He just hoped it wouldn't lead them too far from home.

It, it turned out, was a glint sharp enough to be mistaken for a car's headlights. A light blinked on a tree branch. Izuku rubbed at his dry eyes. The glint lessened, revealing a beanie dangling from leafless branch. Toshi pointed his nose at it.

"A hat?" Izuku talked to his dog, taking the beanie off the branch, looking it over. A winter hat. A winter hat that just happened to have a special reflection to it. Toshi pawed at his knee: sit down. His mind went blank as he massaged the soft hat between his softer gloves, feeling a link – a sudden emotional pull that shot a dizzy spell into his head and sent him dropping to his knees, clutching the beanie to his chest. The music from afar hid under the sound of his desperate breaths. The realization hit just as he felt wet coldness over his face when he fell to the side.

It always felt like dying. He could die the moment the world told him he had a Soulmate. He had someone to love him, and he was going to die before meeting them. He would've preferred dying without knowing he had someone looking for him. The cold turned into a familiar tingly one that seeped under his skin. He curled in on himself as the tightness in his chest made him clench his jaw, hissing clouds between his teeth.

He felt Toshi dig at his pocket with ferocity, pulling the hem of his thick jacket up just enough to expose the remote-shaped alarm key clipped to the pocket. The dog quickly grabbed the key's dangling strap with his mouth and gave it a strong yank that severed the bottom half from the top.

Something wasn't right. Where was the beeping? Was he too far from home for the signal to reach? Toshi must've picked up on that as well, because he inched his way under Izuku's arm and tried to get him to reach for one of the pouches that held the back-up phone with two numbers.

Usually, people were around when he did collapse and they'd immediately check on him. This time, everyone was busy near parties and malls and Christmas events, leaving him in the empty cold with his dog. Toshi's eyes searched all around for someone – anyone, as he hoped his boy was conscious enough to pull the phone out. The zipper had a string for easy grabbing. Izuku snagged it, then let go as his body quivered and stiffened without his control. It became apparent this wasn't a normal episode. It was fast, consistent, rougher than usual. The need to search for his important person slammed him with twenty tons of stress in one go.

Toshi tried to reach back for the zipper himself, managing to do so and nudging the phone out via splendid flexibility. He bit down on it until the tiny screen showed a picture of a telephone. Location sent.

"–zuku? Izuku, honey? Oh, Izuku, baby, I'm on my way!" Inko's worried voice buzzed through the speaker. Toshi nudged the phone closer to Izuku's panting jaw.

Instead of answering, Izuku clumsily slapped the beanie at Toshi's nose in a pathetic attempt to give it to him. His panicked eyes looked at the dog, then up at something in the distance he knew was meant for his eyes only. The giant Christmas tree, where everyone had probably gathered for dances and games and kiddie events. He saw the top of the tree, where another Shimmer glinted in the sky, floating just by the star of the tree. They were giving him Clues. The hat, now whatever that was his Soulmate decided to hang on a Christmas tree.

His person was there.

"Pl – Please…" His eyes blurred. His breaths became wheezes as he sensed his muscles wanting to clinch again. "Can - Can you… Can you f – find them?"

"Izuku, is someone with you? I won't be long, okay?" Inko tried to hide her panic for his sake. It wasn't working. She always worried.

Toshi looked like he was trying to decide between staying like he should or doing as told.

The corners of his vision darkened. "Please, Toshi…" His arm went limp and fell. His hands had gone numb and it took him some time to notice Toshi had grabbed the beanie and began trotting full-speed ahead, heading for where the tree was.

Izuku's eyes blurred as he stared up at the Shimmer now attached to the tree. It was brighter than any star he'd seen. If only he could lift his hand to grab it, call 'I'm here'.

…

One would think a dog with his vest running like a Husky with no person would be an eye-catcher. Toshi learned not everyone stopped to read, and most ignored. He'd bark at strangers, his voice muffled with the hat in his mouth. Nine times out of ten, people only stared or questioned who lost their dog. One person got scared and kicked snow at him. The general public had other things to do on their list, like deliver gifts to family and go to a party.

The scent trail was his hope. It had caught his nose earlier, the way it carried a hint of his boy for an unknown reason. Or maybe Izuku shared something with it as well? Or, perhaps, whatever it was, it was in both Izuku and this unknown person. Toshi had been an idiot to not think of the consciences of his actions.

The road had smeared the smell around, but there was an item that still held that strong scent nearby. A scarf tied to a streetlamp, fat and limp. The trail continued into more densely populated areas, where chatter and music mixed. The beanie flopped like his ears when running. People's knees were all he saw.

…

"Can you pushing it in a bit more?" Ochaco requested. She had her hands ready to cancel her Quirk, looking like she was holding an invisible basketball. Her neck hurt from looking up, up, up at the Christmas tree everyone hung their items on. Some attached small toys, some bigger toys, some ornaments, and some hats and jackets. There was one limp sock up there, because why not? Enough brunches on the skyscraper of a Christmas tree for everyone.

She floated the keychain as high as she felt comfortable. One of the volunteers who'd helped decorate the tree, Hanta Sero, offered a hand. Or an elbow. With tape linking the keychain, he maneuvered it like he was holding a balloon, positioning it where it had the best luck of snagging onto a branch. The tree was in the center of the ever-moving crowd in winter clothing.

"How about here?" Hanta asked, rubbing the back of his aching neck with a free hand.

Ochaco tilted her head, examining it. "Looks good! I'll drop it now." Her fingers touched, and the keychain weighed down the brave branch but stayed put.

Mission accomplished.

"Thanks for the help, Sero!" Toru happily said.

"It's no problem!"

"Hey, tape dispenser!" someone shouted over the crowd. The angry boy shouldered his way past people, hugging a cardboard box to his chest. "Been calling you all day. Get over here and stick these around," he ordered.

Hanta rolled down his sleeve with relief. "Sorry, man," he chuckled, not really sorry. "Kinda impossible to hear in all this." He gestured everywhere. People talked and laughed as they went about their day.

It wasn't helping Ochaco's jumpy nerves. Whatever logic she made up in her mind to stay calm was forgotten in an instant. Wringing her fingers, her eyes scanned the blur of people.

Momo gently placed her hand on her back to pull her out of her trance. "You're still not feeling well?"

It felt like her heart was trying to crawl up and out. How did people sleep at night if they couldn't find each other on the same day? It was difficult enough to stand in one spot. "Just really nervous," she said meekly, giving the girls a fake smile. She pulled out the wrinkled page to feel under her skin.

"Wait, all that?" Hanta gawked at the number of tiny items in the box shoved into his arms. "You know I've been doing this all day. I'm gonna run outta tape."

The grumpy boy in orange winter clothes and earmuffs looked right past him, staring sharply at– "Hey, girl, where'd you get that?" He sidestepped Hanta and began marching his way to her.

He didn't look friendly. Her instinct told her to hug the Clue and step back. "What?" Her tone was more defensive than she'd liked.

"That." He pointed at the Clue pressed to her chest.

Mina stepped in. "You could be a little nicer, you know."

"I'm asking because the nerd wouldn't just hand it over. You would've had to pry it out of his cold dead hands and he'd still not let anyone have it. How'd you get that?" he repeated more firmly.

Wait… "You know him!" Ochaco realized.

"Course I know him." He looked down, and Ochaco heard a hint of shame in his words. "Been in the same classes every year. Now tell me where you got that."

"I found it. It fell from the sky."

He raised a brow. Not believing her.

"Really! We were there!" Mina insisted.

Toru pitched in, "It's her Clue! Isn't that amazing?"

"Her what?" He straightened like he'd been slapped. "Deku's your… Fucking hell."

So… Deku Midoriya, then? It was cute.

Amongst the multiple conversations around, there was a sudden yelp from someone in the crowd, followed by another. People parted, getting out of the dog's way. He skidded to a stop, creating a snowy hill by his feet. The short leash was empty at the end. Her beanie dangled from his mouth.

"Ochaco, isn't that your hat?" Tsuyu pointed out.

Ochaco carefully grabbed it, and the dog let go. She examined it. No tears or any damage. The dog had carried it over right back to her.

"…what the fuck, that's Deku's dog," the grumpy boy said.

She remembered Mirio's words: "keep an eye out for his dog! Goes everywhere with him." A golden dog with a vest.

But no Midoriya.

They all went quiet, coming to the same realization. Dread poured over her. She cupped the dog's face. "Where is he?"

He suddenly latched onto her sleeve and gave a tug, released, and ran at the direction he came from.

…

The dog was fast. He took paths they'd already taken, leading them just by the park. The sounds of the girls (plus the red-eyed boy) running behind her drowned in the sounds of her own breathing and rapid heartbeats thumping in her ears. An ambulance came into view, as with as people in uniforms and a chubby woman in maroon clothing bending over someone on a stretcher.

Ochaco saw the boy in Shimmering clothing. Adrenaline pumped through her like she'd die if she didn't run.

"I'm here!" she yelled with desperation, reaching a hand out. "I'm here!"

Dazed and strapped to the stretcher, the boy, her Soulmate, tiredly turn his head and made eye contact through half-closed eyes. It was him. He was hers and she was his. He struggled to lift his shaky hand, reaching in her direction as his stretcher was being moved.

Her two fingertips grazed his – and the world rippled like raindrops on a lake's surface. Time stopped. Pictures of his life leaked into hers. It felt like she plunged into ice water from a considerable height.

Relief washed over her and she sank to her knees, watching as they took him from her, hiding him away in the back of the vehicle, leaving her on the ground, panting heavily, surrounded by sympathetic friends who couldn't help her at that moment.

…

The city had many surprises, from its weather to its people. She didn't mind. It was okay.

This Christmas had its own gift to her. Sure, she had to wait impatiently at the hospital, but he was worth the wait. She gingerly knocked after being told he was stable and she could go ahead and visit.

"Come in," a woman – who Ochaco came to know as her Soulmate's mother – said from the other side. They had a talk in the waiting room. Such a lovable woman.

The wires that slipped under his hospital gown lined him to the heart monitor. His bed was tilted up. His mother was in the chair while his dog was splayed out on the floor, wagging his tail when she came in.

He gave her a tired smile and reached up. "Hey."

She clasped his hand with both of hers. "Hey to you, too."

"Sorry I made you worry," he said. "Didn't mean to."

She giggled. "I'm happy I found you." She pointed at the dog who sat up. "And it's thanks to him."

Izuku gestured for the dog to come up on the bed. He did. "Thanks, Toshi." He hugged the dog's neck. "You're my hero."

Toshi gave him a grateful lick and the boy laughed.

"Oh, I wanted to give you this," Ochaco said, pulling out the notebook page and unraveling it.

His eyes widened. "Where…?"

"I found it. It's what made me start looking."

"…Your hat…" She'd left it out on purpose, he realized.

"You're a pretty good artist. Why'd you send it flying?" Ochaco asked.

He looked at his work with mournfully. "I… didn't think it was good enough."

"What? No! You're really talented, Deku."

"Deku?" he asked with a head tilt.

That wasn't his name? But– "Oh, a boy said he knew you. He called you that."

Izuku chuckled breathlessly. "That must've been Kacchan. I'm Izuku, actually. It's nice to officially meet you. Sorry we had to meet like this."

"Ochaco Uraraka! You know, Deku sounds cute. Like 'you can do it'," she said, noting the blush on his cheeks. "Anyway, your drawing of All Might looks really nice!"

His eyes widened in wonder. "You… you like the series, too?" It was such a nerdy thing to like.

"Yap! Who's that one, by the way?" She pointed at the character drawn on the back.

"Oh. That. That's… a character I want to work on someday…" he admitted, embarrassed.

"Wow… Do you have more? Can I see?"

She flipped through the pages, pointing and asking. Toshi wagged his tail silently as that one page was placed back in the notebook after its long journey.


End file.
